In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

4 the rainbow in thetrenches the 167th reaches the baccarat Sector on February 16,1918,the regiment marched from Faverolles to the rolampont railhead, where it boarded trains of “40 and 8” boxcars heading for baccarat.1 these standard wooden boxcars for French troop trains took their names from their design, which accommodated forty men or eight horses.the cold, open cars had no toilets,and“As these troop trains sped through the French towns and countryside the undraped posterior of soldiers usually shone protruding from open doors with shirttails flapping in the breeze.”2 baccaratwasapproximatelyninemilesfromthe1871French-Germanborder. like all towns and villages near the front, it was all too familiar with the cost of war.3 having a population of about seven thousand, the prewar city was a thriving center for the manufacture of crystal. but the town suffered extensive damage in the opening days of battle. in August 1914 the German Army overran a French garrison there of three thousand, torching 120 houses in the process.4 When the French retook baccarat from the Germans on September 12, 1914, they caused further damage.5 they also established an Allied trench line about five miles east of the city.the Germans conducted aerial reconnaissance when French units relieved one another in the trenches,but other than a few dropped bombs,the sector remained relatively quiet.6 From then on by unspoken accord, the Germans and French demonstrated restraint in this area,firing weapons only infrequently.7 thus,in 1918,theAmericans arrived at a relatively calm place and saw war damage for the first time. Andréthirion, a member of the French surrealist movement, remembered witnessing theAmericans’ arrival as a child:“Some towering modelt’s brought soldiers dressed in khaki. . . .they installed themselves at all crossroads with orderlies on motorcycles and arranged a new invasion.new,handsomely equipped rainbow in thetrenches / 63 soldiers arrived from everywhere—at the small depot, in trucks and even on foot. beneath our windows . . . huge caterpillar tractors dragged heavy cannon behind them. it was the 42nd US, the ‘rainbow’ division.”8 the American soldiers—aggressive, physically strong—soon gave hope and new life to the town and countryside.one soldier recalled the exuberant welcome the men received on their arrival in baccarat,writing,“At the word‘American!’the cry‘vive l’Amerique’leaped from mouth to mouth and the villagers swarmed about,anxious to get close-up views of the men from over the seas.”9 Such greetings were common, and they bolstered theAmericans’ enthusiasm. on February 18, in the middle of the exceptionally cold winter, the 167th marched from baccarat to Glonville. ben Allender of the 168th described the area in a letter dated February 26: “the more we see of the town, the worse it looks, for nearly all of it has been destroyed. . . .there are also many graves of French soldiers scattered all over the town and country, wherever they fell.”10 the meurthe river was so solidly frozen that horse-drawn artillery passed directly over it.11 Four days later the 167th marched to brouville, several miles nearer the front,and heard artillery rumble and saw German andAllied airplanes skirmish.roads and friendly artillery were elaborately camouflaged,and everywhere they looked, they saw “a skeleton of a village shot to a crumbling ruin.”12 entering thetrenches by February 1918 theAeF decided that the rainbow’s“fighting spirit,which was already very high . . . should be sharpened to a fine point.”13 For its first official action,the rainbow entered trenches in the lorraine northeast of baccarat, where it faced the 96th German infantry division and the 6th German Cavalry division.14 this quiet sector southeast of nancy bordered Germany to the east and continued to Switzerland farther south.15 the AeF planned to battle-train the 42nd division by having it face the enemy while under the supervision of thevii (French) Corps,“who were temporarily holding the extreme right of the line in lorraine on a front which extended from dombasle to baccarat.”16 three French divisions—the Fr 128th, 14th, and 164th—helped with this work.17 each of the four rainbow regiments relieved a French unit or units.the 167th (Alabama) and 168th (iowa) US infantry regiments were assigned to the 128th (French) division,a division ofAlpine chasseurs nicknamed the“Wolves.”18 the French provided on-the-job instructions until march 21, when the rainbow assumed sole responsibility for the baccarat sector.Under this“twinning”arrangement a US company,battalion,and...

Share